Major League Baseball star, Texas A&M alum Jason Tyner joininh Gulf Coast HOF

Published 12:06 am Saturday, September 24, 2022

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After the pandemic, Museum of the Gulf Coast Director Tom Neal had a long list of names he felt were overdue for being admitted into the museum’s halls of fame.

One of the names on that list was former Beaumont West Brook baseball player Jason Tyner.

The former Bruins standout and Major League Baseball player will be one of four inducted into the Hall of Fame Saturday. He will join former Port Neches-Groves defensive back Mike Simpson and former Orangefield pitcher Jeff Granger as inductees into the Sports Hall of Fame.

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Legendary Lawyer Walter Umphrey will receive a posthumous induction into the Notable People Hall of Fame.

“I am amazed at the talent,” Neal said. “I feel honored and blessed to be able to acknowledge these guys. What is so interesting is that you can say what all of these people did, but when you scratch a little deeper, you can find all of these cool stories that make you take notice. I find it to be an amazing experience to find out what these people have done.”

Tyner was born in Bedford in 1977. He attended West Brook High School, where he was named the Beaumont Student Athlete of the Year and was a member of the National Honors Society his junior and senior year.

After his high school career, he attended Texas A&M, where he thrived on the diamond.

He broke the school’s single season stolen base record with 41 and recorded 107 hits.

By the time he was finished at A&M, Tyner had the school career record for hits (307) and stolen bases (119). He was also second in career batting average and third in at-bats. His career totals were even more remarkable when you factor in he only played three seasons with the Aggies before going pro.

In 1998, the New York Mets drafted Tyner with the 21st pick in the first round. The lefty made his MLB debut June 5, 2000.

His stay in New York was short lived as the Mets traded him the following month to Tampa Bay. His speed was on display in Florida as he broke the then club record for stolen bases in a season with 35.

Tyner bounced around to different clubs until retiring in 2009.

He was inducted into the Texas A&M Hall of Fame in 2007.

Tyner lives in Southeast Texas with his wife and four kids. He is the baseball coach for Kelly Catholic High School. Each year, he awards a student athlete with a $1,500 scholarship from the Juliet Tyner Memorial Scholarship Foundation, which is named in honor of his mother, who died from breast cancer in 1998.

He and former minor leaguer Morgan Walker operate the Southeast Texas Baseball Academy for players 4-14 years old.

“The academy has 170-plus kids in it,” Neal said. “They run a lot of programs in the area.”